Vindice

Don't forget we had the polybags too. i was able to get about 40 of those to build up my army of uruks! I think battlepacks are good but lets not forget that we've only had a reasonably small summer wave of LOTR. TLG does have a limited headcount and that maybe a far bigger reason than people expect as to why some waves are getting a bit smaller. It may be scandalous for us to imagine but people DO leave the Lego group.............especially when Hasbro are more than willing to pay them a little bit extra to jumpship and take their talents to the fledling Kre'o line. I think they've earned our respect (if they need to!) with Helms Deep and Orthanc which are incredible sets. We need to keep on reminding ourselves that it is aimed at kids and more importantly parents wallets! Material prices are on the up, minifig production is getting more intense and detailed and budgets are being cut. This means the designers have a huge taks in putting out a set that has the right combination of style and substance whilst making a profit. lets give the guys a bit of a break and sit back and enjoy the next few years, you never know, it may go from strength to strength!

Wow some people really like to complain! I don't know why people are harping on about the lack of Gondorian sets so much, there is still a chance for at least one more wave of LOTR sets. Hasn't the release of Orthanc proved to people that TLG has made a substantial investment in this line??? If and when there is a wave 3 I expect it will tick everyones boxes with the set selection but TLG has a strict marketing formula on how they put out sets and the price points they are set at. The price of Rivendell will be set and the deisngers have to work within those constraints whilst giving the public more and more minifigures. this takes a way from the amount of bricks (especially if they have to create new molds) they can put into the finished design. Kids love play features and they love vehicles and this has to be catered for or the sets wont sell well. The corsair ship looks authentic and although it wasn't in the film much it was still an important part and it fits the bill perfectly as a vehicle. i also agree that this may be one of Gimli's last appearances. I would expect minas tirith will include Eowyn, Witch King, Merry and some Gondorian soldiers. I would also think than a Mumakil is quite likely as a "vehicle" type set with legolas. I'm not in the least bit surprised that the orcs are so generic. Don't forget we got great representation of the Uruk Hai with both Lurz and a Beserker. We may get Gothmog with Minas tirith or Grishnak with Treebeard. That would be fine for the orcs. Maybe we should all just be patient and some of us moan a little less, in that way we may one day get one of the designers back on the forum who can give us some insights into how these things are decided.

Thats brilliant, cant wait to show that to my son, he's going to go ape!!!

I think we will see Sauron at some point. now thatwe've seen the Mouth of Sauron anything is possible. I think it's probably unlikely that we would seem him with Orthanc although it would certainly be welcome. i think treebeard is more likely to be included. my initial thoughts when this theme was released was that Sauron would eventually be seen either in a reasonably priced "Last alliance set" with Isildur and and some of mount doom with possibly a few extra figs or that we would see some form of Barad-Dur with an eye play feature and Sauron in physical form. I suppose it's not inconceivable that he could find his way into a Dol guldur set in his physical form. after all, kids aren't really fussed on continuity are they.

Excellent work, really nice diorama. Great building and great posing of the figures.

I think there is some truth to that but that is probably a by-product of how popular the actual minifigs have become. In fact they have probably become the most valuable assets of most sets now. I doubt the designers have any choice anymore but to come up with more acurate and expensive minifigures and bearing in mind they probably have to reduce costs at the same time we will end up seeing more and more sets where the construction part of the equation is more hollow, less detailed and have a lot less bricks. I don't see this changing for a while at least not with licensed products.

He will definitely be based upon the Ultimate Spiderman cartoon. I don't think it's a bad thing, ensures continuity with the current available sets.

GRogall is a figure shrouded in mystery! He is a credible source and has been the one to confirm sets many times before but if you're asking if there is an official press release then i think not, however GRogall is bang on the money, there is an Orthanc Tower set.

I think that if the decision to renew the contract for Superheroes were TLG's alone then they would definitely renew. More and more revenue is being generated through Superhero films and merchandise so it could prove to last even longer than SW from that perspective. The sticking point could be Disney's interest in Hasbro. If they do indeed acquire them then I would expect them to hold onto the rights to the Marvel merchandising and explore using the kre'o brand for this. The only way I don't see them doing that is if they decide that Kre'o is not worth keeping in the hasbro portfolio. So after the expiration of the marvel license then I would assume TLG will concentrate solely on the DC universe. The competition between both brands would be huge although ultimately I think Marvel offers the more diversity. If disney don't purchase back the rights to X-Men, FF, Spiderman movies and a host of other characters then TLG may look at bidding for these rights as a way to directly compete. All in all I would say this is a very uncertain theme beyond 2015 for TLG. the question for them is do they bleed it for all it's worth over the next few years or, do they avoid building a market for it that they may not be able supply in the future. Big decision!

I really do hope you're right Legonator, the sets are amazing so far and they do appear to be setting the stage for much bigger things. I'm the sort of person who doesn't like to build my hopes up too much so I'm going to expect the worst though. My belief initially would be that they would consider combining waves for Hobbit and Lotr to give LOTR some extra advertising by leaching onto the Hobbit films. That would appear not to be the case at the moment and with only 2 more waves likely (in my opinion) for the Hobbit and the last one presumably being next Spring/Summer, I am not convinced we will see any more LOTR. I think they should have done 4 sets of each sub-theme for every wave. I think this would've helped the sales of both potentially. My one saving grace is that if TLG ever expected this theme to last only 2 waves then they would've abolsutely done more iconic scenes and at least based a £100 play set on Minas tirith and given us minifigs of Sauron and probably the Witch-King and Gondor soldiers and sets featuring Treebeard and a Balrog. if the theme is killed without these then I would be shocked and would seriously question TLG's marketing dept for a crazed decision. Actually I'm now beginning to convince myself that we will get another wave..................

Isn't the 30th a Wednesday???

Although I can understand people wanting to know the answer to this we really won't know much at all until TLG produces their annual sales figures. Being a privately owned company there is no real obligation for them to produce their figures on a regular basis but i think their annual figures will be released reasonably soon. (february/March time is probably about the norm) I don't think those figures will be broken down in public to a theme or license level. You do have to remember though that the waves are planned well in advance so the second wave would not have been pulled even if wave one was poor. I should imagine that if TLG had planned a third wave then we will probably still see it, but then that will be it unless sales pick up. The hobbit sets seem to be holding their prices better than the LOTR ones which is a good indicator that the retailers are seeing strong demand.

Personally I don't think we will see many more LOTR sets. If we get another wave though I would think these are the likely candidates. Fall of Gandalf Gandalf, Brickbuilt Balrog and some of the bridge of Khazad dum. Battle of pellenor Legolas, moulded Mumakil, haradrim x2, ruins of Mnas tirith outer wall. Encounter with Treebeard Merry, pippin and brick built Treebeard with some smaller trees and Orc Mimas tirith Helms deep size set with troll, orcs x2, 2 soldiers of Gondor plus Faramir Gates of minas tirith Separate add on with grond, more orcs and another soldier of gondor Eowyn vs witch king Eowyn,witch king, moulded fell best, merry and some scenery I'm not convinced we'll see much more though. I hope they do a last alliance set though so we can get Sauron.

interesting topic. If I ran LEGO my first concern would be production costs. With more competition in the marketplace it's important to focus on profitability and operating costs. Sales may possibly be lower than what is budgeted considering the economic situation of much of the world so I wouldn't make any kneejerk reactions to certain themes performing slowly. I think LEGO are possibly over extending themselves in certain areas. Too many themes, too many sets. I think taking on the superheroes and LOTR themes at the same time as SW, Chima, Galaxy quest and Turtles and others is a mistake. Having said that they pciked up some excellent licenses. Unfortunately if disney buys Hasbro then the super heroes agreement will not likely be renewed which could be damaging. Here is the big one for me. They need to find a way to attract and KEEP the set designers. They cannot afford to be losing critical staff to rival companies or quality will suffer at TLG whilst improving at other companies. TLG needs to invest heavily in their staff as well as marketing. They should forge meaningful partnerships with schools which will help them engender a loyal fan base through competitive times plus groom the next generation of designers. I think LEGO education is important and LEGO should provide a track for young designers into the company in a more public way. TV is an important medium. I'd like to see (in addition to the cartoons) LEGO do a live show featuring designers where they actually show building techniques and feature some themes and what you can do with LEGO. Building, stop motion animation etc. Like a LEGO Blue Peter or art attack. These are difficult times financially for every company including TLG. i do wonder if the company may even merge with another Toy company one day.

Highly unlikely you will get put through to a designer, and even if you do they will not let any information slip regarding future sets. It is possible that your comments will have already been viewed by a designer from LEGO as this site is occasionally viewed by them. i say occasionaly because the grumbling and unreasonable complaining of some has put some of them off for good now. Why not take a loo on twitter. Quite a few lego employees are on there.

The German market is traditionally very important but its always been known that the typical German child does not buy fantasy toys in general. This is not new and TLG like all toy manufacturers are well aware of this. I think you will find that TLG's licensed themes do better in North America and they would've planned for this. You're really not going to ever let this creator idea go are you?

I think the Spider-Man rights like the x films only revert back to marvel if a new film doesn't begin principal photography within a set amount of years. With the last Spider-Man being recent and successful they won't have this back for a long while. Same goes for xmen. Disney could buy them back but they have spent a fair bit of money recently. Sorry Neville, I was thinking we were on about the cartoon series and not the ABC Shield series. I don't see TLG making much of that material. Thought it was more about the agents than more recognisable heroes and villains.

A voice of reason. I think people should get a bit of a grip here. Better to have an official set we can mod than no set at all. Don't forget this is aimed at parents who in the current climate have less disposable income and kids who are saving money from their paper rounds. I have no doubt that with a limitless budget the designers would've made us something astonishing but they are working to increasingly tight margins with a higher call for minifigs which takes costs away from set design. I think this will be a great wave, long may it continue.

Although I do agree that areas of commercialism have gone too far. (making 3 films instead of 2 doesnt seem right for a book this size.) I don't think you can balme Jackson too much considering he didnt want to direct the films in the first place. It wasn't his fault he ended up having to helm them.

The only confirmed marvel shows so far are the new Avengers Assemble cartoon which is being heavily invested in and Hulk :Agents of Smash. There have been far more rumors of the new X-Men animated show than a SHIELD one. Bendis is having more to do with the second series of Spiderman so expect the storylines to perhaps be a bit more tweaked to appeal to a wider demographic, but just remember it is a kids cartoon and a very good one. We could potentially see a fair more sets from this line when it restarts (this Saturday I think) after all as has been pointed out, we need a Power man, Green Goblin, White Tiger and it is our best chance to get a Coulson. The Avengers assemble cartoon doesn't premiere until later in the year but that could mean we get some interesting sets in a winter wave. Be good to have Falcon. Thanos is going to be the chief antagonist I think.

that is correct, only 6 months between parts 2 and 3. One thing people need to keep in mind about any set that could feature Eowyn, Merry, Witch-King and Fell beast is that there is little chance of this being a low priced set. I believe the molding and printing process for large beasts is very expensive for TLG. I think for this reason there is a greater chance of it being in a larger set, possibly Osgilliath although I never saw that set as being very likely. I do think we will potentially see a lot more wanted figures falling into cheaper sets though, TLG is very much reacting to market demands and they realise that the minifg has probably become the pinnacle of most sets (good or bad thing??) therefore I think we will be seeing Witch-King and Sauron very soon! I agree that we shouldnt expect LOTR to last beyond 2-3 years but It will depend on how well it sells. I expect they wouldve released most sets by that time so there will be little call for it beyond then. At the end of the day it comes down to money. Some licenses are a cash cow and everyone loves to milk a cow!

I think we will see one exclusive set but that could be one of a number of possibilities. I don't think we'll see a brick built fell beast, construction would be flimsy and therefore not satisfy playability levels.

I agree with this and also there isn't likely to be another Hulk film as they bombed andMarvel have too many other movies in the pipeline. Tesco's were selling this set off for half price last week, considered getting some extras but thought better of it. I really hope TLG do a better job with this license than just sets based off the movies (spiderman excluded of course) there are supposed to be new cartoons out this year for X-Men, Avengers and the Fantastic Four lets hope they get some love too.

That's absolutely right although I actually found it quite funny in the films when he said he couldnt remember their names, as he likely hadn't seen them in some time. With the current expansion of Disney I would be surprised if they didnt try and at least explore the possibility of a cartoon based on the complete Tolkien universe. It could be a very good money spinner as there are some excellent stories in the Silmarillion. Anyway back on topic! Have the rumors of a small summer wave been squashed now?

It isn't the easiest of reading for many people but trust me, the Silmarillion is much heavier. If new line ever got the rights to that we would get some amazing sets i think. Would suit a cartoon series in the vein of Clone Wars more than a film though.